Duo firms on a humane mission to tackle refugee crisis

Crypto firms Horizen and Cripto Conserje have collaborated to mitigate the refugee crisis in Latin America, as reported by FinanceMagnates on 28 December 2018.

Horizen, formerly known as ZenCash, is a firm known for decentralized, borderless transactions and communications. The company’s blockchain platform provides versatile uses in real life, including the ability to privately chat with other people.

Cripto Conserje is a not for profit organization, working towards encouraging merchants in Latin America to accept crypto payments. This is being achieved through POS hardware, training and customer support.

According to a Vox report, Venezuela is facing a massive economic crisis which has transformed into a serious humanitarian crisis in the last few years. To start with, the two partnered firms are extending support to affected communities in Venezuela.

The report also highlighted the rising inflation which has caused the domestic fiat currency to be nothing more than a worthless piece of paper. The crisis is so massive that a multitude of people are starving, barely managing to make ends meet.

This has caused a large number of refugees to fly away from Venezuela to the Columbian border-town of Cucuta, the report continued. These asylum seekers often carry only Venezuelan bolivars which are not accepted in Columbia.

The companies said:

“Over 2.3 million people have fled from Venezuela over the last 4 years to escape staggering inflation, food and medicine shortages, and the return of deadly diseases. Many refugees only had Venezuelan currency and had difficulty exchanging their Venezuelan Bolivars for the Colombian Peso. Without pesos, many refugees were unable to purchase basic necessities like food, which led to higher rates of theft. Horizen and Cripto Conserje are alleviating the difficulties these refugees are facing.”

The parties said that they will provide ZEN paper wallets and awareness to those in need to ensure that they have a secure way to access their money. This is irrespective of where they are and what circumstances they may find themselves in.

“We are also onboarding 100 local merchants to begin accepting ZEN as payments.”, the parties noted. ZEN is a digital coin introduced by Horizen in mid-2017.

It is heartwarming to see cryptocurrencies being used for humanitarian needs. It is in such niche situations that digital coins come into practical usage instead of being plainly consumed for greedy accretion of wealth.